Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Dover Corp (DOV)

Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV) was in 20 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. DOV investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with DOV positions at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are tons of metrics investors can use to analyze their holdings. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can beat the broader indices by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a peek at the key action regarding Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV).

Hedge fund activity in Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV)

Heading into Q2, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Diamond Hill Capital, managed by Ric Dillon, holds the most valuable position in Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV). Diamond Hill Capital has a $195.8 million position in the stock, comprising 2.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Michael Messner of Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), with a $37.6 million position; the fund has 1.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management and Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital.

Since Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there were a few funds that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we track, comprising close to $67.4 million in stock.. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also sold off its stock, about $6.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV). These stocks are Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS), Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE:IR), Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR), and Roper Industries, Inc. (NYSE:ROP). This group of stocks are the members of the diversified machinery industry and their market caps are closest to DOV’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds